Harry Spencer, jazz musician, visits students at Samuel Mickle School

EAST GREENWICH TWP. — Harry Spencer stood on the stage at the Samuel Mickle School with nothing more than a microphone and his saxophone Friday afternoon and as soon as he began to play feet began tapping and hoots and hollers were heard from the audience of fifth and sixth graders.

Spencer, a jazz musician originally from Harlem, New York, visited the school to celebrate the beginnings of jazz music, how it has had an impact on the United States and how the various cultures in this country have had an impact on the musical style itself.

“Jazz is the only original American form of music,” he said. “It is home grown. Jazz is African rhythms with western melodies and America is a melting pot.”

The students have been studying jazz as a part of their literacy and Black History Month curriculum for the past few weeks. Spencer’s visit was the culmination of the lesson.

Some of the teachers at the Samuel Mickle School decided to shift away from the traditional methods of teaching Black History Month this year and instead brought many cultural aspects into their lessons, from Negro League baseball to African American music.

The students learned how slaves had to create their own music without instruments by using their hands, feet and voices — clapping, snapping, tapping and scatting — and how that evolved into modern-day jazz music.

“Typically kids learn about Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman,” said Jessica Peterson, a teacher at the school. “But everyone can relate to music.”

Lessons about music were incorporated into their literacy classes as they read about Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong and they wrote their own lyrics to Armstrong’s famous song “What a Wonderful World,” changing the title to “What a Wonderful School.”

“We incorporated the music with literacy and the kids just loved it,” said Jennifer Daubert, who teaches fifth grade at the school.

Spencer performed some basic tenets of jazz music and taught the children how the art form progressed throughout history, as well as how the music becomes a part of the performer.

“Music is one of the purest expressions someone can have,” he said. You don’t just play. You let your instrument become a part of you. You get a spiritual feeling, you can speak through the instrument and communicate with other people.”